TU goes big at Fly Fishing Film Tour 10th anniversary

Jan. 22, 2016

Contact: 

Joel R. Johnson, Chief Marketing Officer, (703) 284-9423

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 

TU goes big at Fly Fishing Film Tour 10^th anniversary

DENVER—When the 2016 Fly Fishing Film Tour premieres on Jan. 23, at the City Hall event venue in Denver for its 10^th season, it will do so with support from Trout Unlimited for the fifth straight year.

“We are proud to celebrate The Fly Fishing Film Tour’s 10th anniversary with our largest program of activities to date,” said Joel R. Johnson, TU’s chief marketing officer. “Anglers look forward to F3T every year and we hope TU’s sponsorship will not disappoint.”

This year, TU hopes to bring attention to climate change through its sponsorship of CHROME, a short film by Conservation Hawks and Conservation Media appearing in the tour. TU will also focus on protection efforts in Alaska’s Tongass National Forest with a raffle in partnership with Breedlove Guitars. Finally, TU will help to increase the representation of women in the sport of fly fishing by offering a new grant to filmmakers in collaboration with Orvis, Costa and F3T.

Each year more women participate in fly fishing, with one out of three new anglers being a woman. This year, the F3T, along with TU, Orvis and Costa, is announcing it’s first-ever grant to a filmmaker for the purpose of increasing the representation of women in fly fishing film. Films made with the help of this grant will be considered for inclusion in the 2017 Fly Fishing Film Tour. For information on the grant and the application, visit http://www.tu.org/tuwomenf3t. 

Also this year, in collaboration with TU and Breedlove Guitars, attendees of F3T tour screenings from Jan 23 to April 20^, will be eligible to win a hand-crafted Oregon Rogue guitar made from myrtle wood and Alaskan Sitka spruce or a fly fishing prize package from TU with the purchase of a raffle ticket. The purpose, according to Breedlove’s Tom Bedell, is to highlight the ongoing clear-cut logging of old-growth spruce on the Tongass National Forest and TU’s Tongass 77 campaign. Breedlove Guitars are crafted from salvaged spruce and never from clear-cut wood. 

The United States Forest Service recently released draft changes to the Tongass’ Land Management Plan, which provides the blueprint for activities allowed within the forest. TU's review of this plan tells us that the Forest Service has proposed changes that put fish and other renewable resources on more even footing with the timber industry for the first time, and greatly improves management of fish and wildlife habitat in America’s largest national forest. The F3T is a great opportunity for anglers to tell the Forest Service how important it is that changes are made to the Land Management Plan that safeguard critical areas for salmon and trout. To comment now, click here. F3T attendees can purchase raffle tickets after the premiere by using their smartphone to text “ROGUE” to a number shared at each tour stop and following the prompts. Proceeds go directly to TU’s Tongass 77 campaign in Southeast Alaska.

Lastly, in September 2015, six well-known anglers including, Orvis’ Tom Rosenbauer and steelhead guide Kate Taylor, visited a remote North American steelhead river known for its beauty and fishing. The short film CHROME condenses their adventure to address the looming threats that climate change and ocean acidification pose to steelhead and salmon. TU last sponsored Conservation Hawks and Conservation Media’s 2015 film, COLD WATERS.

The F3T kicks off with two showings in Denver on Jan. 23—the first at 4 p.m. and the second at 8 p.m. Both screenings will be at the City Hall Events Venue, 1144 Broadway. More than a hundred and twenty tour stops are planned between January and April 20^th. For more information on the tour and future screenings visit the F3T website.